The Power of One. The Power of Bullshit.

Considering we ostensibly work in the communications industry, it never ceases to astound me how deft we are at sheer and utter bullshit.

Further, it never ceases to impress me how deft we are at pretending people actually believe the bullshit we spout so ardently.

A few hours ago I read a quotation from a Publicis spokesman about how--I assume this is a prelude to firing a ton of people--they are consolidating offices.

Consolidating offices and firing people are, let's face it, more and more a part of agency life. You can't pay the tops of the holding companies $74 million a year as well as avaricious shareholders, and not be in a mode that continuously lowers payrolls.

As for office space, the sardineization of workers at impersonal 'work stations,' surrounded by noise, with no place to collaborate or talk to a partner, who in their right mind could think of those conditions as conducive to creativity?

There's no avoiding the plutocrating of the plutocrats. It's what we the workers do. We bring up the last bits of coal in the seam--enriching the mine-owners, only to have them say, 'work harder for less.'

In any event, here is the Publicis spokesperson's statement.

“In the spirit of the Power of One, we strive to better serve our clients through deeper collaboration, cross-agency sharing and insight. As we often do, we are continually considering opportunities to consolidate our operations in major cities where it makes sense for both our clients and people.”

It sounds like the legal disclosure from a bad pharma commercial, where we're told to "activate our within," or some such ugly banality.

It makes me want to club someone to death with a Funk and Wagnalls.